Catalytic Philanthropy

A mentor sent me an interesting article this week published in the Stanford Social Innovation Review. It was titled Catalytic Philanthropy and its author, Mark Kramer, argued that a new approach was needed to solve some of America’s most pressing social problems.

“For most donors,” says Kramer, “philanthropy is about deciding which nonprofits to support and how much money to give them. These donors effectively delegate to nonprofits all responsibility for devising and implementing solutions to social problems. Despite the sincere dedication and best efforts of those who work in the non profit sector, there is little reason to assume that they have the ability to solve society’s large-scale problems.”

Kramer goes on to say that there are significant limitations to the traditional approach and even venture philanthropy approach that makes individual non profits responsible for success. Too often, he argues, underfunded non profits lack the ability to learn from best practices, the clout to influence government, or the scale to achieve national impact.

Kramer advocates a new approach called Catalytic Philanthropy—a donor driven approach that uses multi-sector campaigns and collaboration to create measurable impact and motivate change. He introduces four distinct practices of Catalytic Philanthropy.

1)It requires a Philanthropist to be educated and actively engaged in the issue they are supporting in order to leverage their influence and achieve results.
2)It stimulates cross-sector collaboration and mobilizes stakeholders to build alliances and create shared solutions.
3)It uses a wide variety of available tools beyond traditional fundraising approaches.
4)It creates actionable knowledge that can motivate the actions of others.

What I like about this article is its appeal to well healed philanthropists to get out from behind the big oak desk (thanks to Chris Wignall from Catalyst Foundation for this analogy) and work with non profits in crafting approaches that not only solve immediate needs but address root causes. Of course, there is always the danger with greater donor engagement that the donor and their money take over and impose solutions, and money starved non profits must be careful about how they engage offers of financial support.

My own personal experience has shown me that embracing donors who want to be actively engaged, are passionate, and have potential to help shape a more effective approach, is not only worthwhile, but absolutely essential.

What do you think? Check out the article and share your own thoughts…
http://www.fsg-impact.org/ideas/item/catalytic_philanthropy.html